The lack of a true father in a family "is the scourge of our time," said Dr. Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, as he underscored the crucial role fathers have to play in shaping up families for the betterment of society and consistency of social order.

In an exclusive interview with the Gospel Herald, Evans said fatherlessness is "devastating," since this leads to the breakdown of the family, which in turn will result in the breakdown of society.

"When families break down, you have a lot of repercussion from that, from poverty to crime to lack of discipline. You have the male absence from influencing the generation," he warned. "Since God's covenant was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have an interruption into God's covenantal plan. The repercussions are staggering for the community when fatherlessness abounds."

He said it is not the government's responsibility to reflect God's value into society, but rather the church's. Evans explained that churches exist in every community for that purpose, and they need to implement a "bottom-up solution" to fatherlessness.

"Churches are simply the best localized means to provide that," he stressed.

Now that the American government is looking into legalizing same-sex marriage, Evans believes that the youth will become even more confused as to what is right and what is wrong.

"Today's culture tells the next generation that this redefinition is legitimate, especially if it's authorized and legalized. Therefore, you have competing definitions and conflicting definitions, and that leads to confusion, which is why we have got to emphasize the Biblical definition of the family as created by God – not society," he said. "If God created the family, He should be the ultimate definer of what it is, and that should be our point of reference."